Device for sampling feces

ABSTRACT

A device for sampling feces, by which an approximately constant amount of feces can be sampled in simple manner and it is possible to easily identify whether occult blood is present in the feces or not. The device comprises a main container for a liquid for suspending feces in it, a cap arranged at one end of said main container, a separating device for dividing inner spaces of the main container and the cap, a through-hole formed in the separating device, and a collecting stick having a device for collecting feces engaged and inserted in the through-hole, wherein the device for collecting feces is composed of a plurality of hairs and arranged at or near the forward end of the collecting stick, whereby feces collected by the device for collecting feces being composed of the plurality of hairs are passed into the through-hole of the separating device in order to sample an approximately constant amount of the feces.

This application is a division of prior applications Ser. No. 08/593,374filed Jan. 29, 1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,942.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device for sampling feces, by whichan approximately constant amount of feces can be sampled and suspendedin a liquid to give a preparation for tests in hygienic and simplemanner.

Feces are specimens suitable for clinical laboratory tests just as bloodand urine specimens used for the tests and offer useful information fordiagnosis. Above all, the detection of occult blood in feces is veryuseful for diagnosis of diseases of digestive organs, in particular,colon cancer, and the detection of occult blood in feces is adopted inmass medical screening and medical checking of elderly subjects. It isnow indispensable for the maintenance of health of the people.

As a method for detecting occult blood in feces, chemical method such asguaiac method has been used in the past, while a new method based on theprinciple of immunological reaction has been developed in recent years.Since this method is superior to chemical method in terms of specificityand sensitivity, the method for detecting occult blood in feces isgetting increasingly important. In the detection of occult blood infeces based on immunological measuring method, it is necessary that anapproximately constant amount of feces is sampled and suspended in asuitable liquid. In this respect, there are now strong demands on thedevelopment of a device for sampling feces, which has the abovefunctions and does not require the use of other devices and which can beused in simple and hygienic manner and has no need to wipe off theattached feces during collecting of the feces.

As a device for sampling feces to attain the above purposes, aconventional type device for sampling feces as shown in FIG. 5 has beenknown, which comprises a dripping portion 1 at the lower end, amain-container 3 with a liquid 2 in it, a cap 4 placed on the maincontainer 3, a collecting stick 5 mounted on the cap 4, a rubber plug 6fixed in the main container, and a through-hole 7 formed in the rubberplug 6 to accommodate the collecting stick 5 through it, wherein spiralgrooves 8 to collect feces are provided at the forward end of thecollecting stick 5.

However, in the device for sampling feces as described above, sincefeces are collected by attaching them on the spiral grooves 8, suchdrawbacks are found that it is difficult to have feces perfectly stuckin the grooves 8 and furthermore only very small quantity of feces canbe stuck in the grooves 8, thus making it difficult to collect anapproximately constant amount of feces for the tests. For example, incase feces are stuck perfectly in the grooves and are passed through therubber plug 6, it is possible to have the feces almost evenly stuck inthe grooves. However, because persons collecting feces are unskilled inmost cases, the spiral grooves 8 are passed through the rubber plug 6without perfectly filling the grooves 8 with feces. Thus, even when thegrooves are passed through the rubber plug 6, some portions of thegrooves 8 are not filled with feces, and the quantity of collected fecesvaries widely.

Furthermore, colon cancer mostly occurs in sigmoid colon or rectum.Because feces pass through sigmoid colon and rectum after they have beenproduced, surfaces of feces are covered with blood in the cases ofsigmoid colon cancer or rectal cancer. When the conventional typecollecting stick 5 to collect feces by sticking it into feces is used,it may not be possible to effectively collect surface portions of feces,and hence in the above case it may not be possible to accuratelyidentify whether occult blood is present in the feces or not.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a device for sampling feces, by which it is possible to collectan approximately constant amount of feces for the tests in easy mannerand to accurately identify whether occult blood is present or not infeces.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device forsampling feces, by which it is possible to effectively collect surfaceportions of the feces.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a devicefor sampling feces, by which it is possible to suspend the collectedfeces in a liquid in easy and reliable manner.

To attain the above objects, the present inventors have found afterfervent efforts that it is possible to collect surface portions of fecesby using a means for collecting feces of the collecting stick designedin brush or brush-like shape and rolling the means along the surface ofthe feces. If the means for collecting feces is designed in brush orbrush-like shape, even when feces are not attached evenly on the brushor the like, feces are stuck to the brush or the like almost evenly whenit is passed into the through-hole, and excessive quantity of feces isremoved when passing through the hole.

The device for sampling feces according to the present inventioncomprises a main container for a liquid for suspending feces in it, acap arranged on one end of the main container, a separating means fordividing inner spaces of the main container and the cap, a through-holeformed in the separating means, and a collecting stick having a meansfor collecting feces engaged and inserted into the through-hole, whereinthe means for collecting feces is composed of a plurality of brush hairsand arranged at or near the forward end of the collecting stick.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will becomemore apparent from the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a collecting stick in a device ofthe present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view of another example of the collecting stick of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along the line A-A′ of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional type device forsampling feces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the following, description will be given on an embodiment of thepresent invention referring to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the presentinvention, which has a tapered dripping portion 11 at lower end. On anopening at upper end of a cylindrical container 13, which accommodates aliquid 12 in it, a cylindrical connecting member 25 having openings attwo ends and a sparating wall 17 inside is closely engaged, thus forminga cylindrical main container 26. The cylindrical container 13 and thecylindrical connecting member 25 may be integrated together to form themain container 26.

In the upper opening of the cylindrical connecting member 25, acylindrical cap 14 is screwed or engaged. At the center of a bottomsurface of the cap 14, a collecting stick 15 with circular cross-sectionis closely fitted and fixed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the collecting stick 15 is slidably engaged in athrough-hole 16, which has cylindrical shape and is formed at the middleof the separating wall 17.

At the forward end of the collecting stick 15, a brush portion 18 as ameans for collecting feces is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the brushportion 18 comprises a wire-like member or a rod-like member 19connected at the forward end of the collecting stick 15, and on which aplurality of brush hairs 20 for collecting feces are fixed so thatexternal shape formed by connecting tips of brush hairs is approximatelyin cylindrical shape.

The brush portion 18 is designed in such manner that brush hairs or hairbundles are fixed on it and feces can be collected by rolling the brushover the feces. For example, it may be designed in brush-like shape suchas a writing brush or of an ordinary brush.

In the above embodiment, a plurality of brush hairs 20 are attached onouter periphery of the rod-like member 19 in directions perpendicular toaxial direction of the rod-like member, i.e. axial direction of thecollecting stick so that external shape formed by connecting tips of thehairs is in approximately cylindrical shape, while brush hairs may notbe designed in this way. For example, brush hairs running upward,downward or horizontal directions with respect to axial direction of therod member 19 may be provided independently or in combination. Thelength of each hair may not be identical, and long hairs and short hairsmay be present in mixed manner. Also, the hairs may be provided all overthe outer periphery of the rod member or they may be distributed locallymore intensively than at other portions. Instead of the rod member, awire-like member may be used.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 each represents another example of the collectingstick of the present invention, where a plurality of hairs 20 aredirectly provided on the forward end of the collecting stick 15.

In the above embodiment, the hairs 20 are arranged in verticaldirection, i.e. upward and downward directions as seen in FIG. 4, andthe external shape formed by connecting tips of the hairs 20 is inapproximately elliptical shape.

When the brush portion 18 is made such as in the examples of FIG. 3 orFIG. 4, by rolling the brush portion 18 on the feces to be collected,not only surface portion of the feces but also inner portion of thefeces can be collected. Also, the brush portion mentioned above isconvenient when collecting by rolling and collecting by sticking aresimultaneously used.

As the material of the hairs 20 used in the present invention, it ispreferable to use flexible hairs, while harder material may be used ifthe hairs 20 can be bent when passing into the through-hole 16. Forexample, the hairs of such materials as used in a tooth brush may bepreferably used.

As the material for the hairs 20 used in the present invention, asynthetic resin such as vinyl resin, acrylic resin or polyamide resinmay be used.

In the above embodiment, the upper end of the cylindrical connectingmember 25 is designed to have a shape made by cutting diagonally acylinder as seen in parts 27 in FIG. 1. It is not alway necessary toprovide such a shape, while that shape facilitates insertion of thecollecting stick 15.

In the above embodiment, the upper surface 21 of the separating wall 17is inclined in tapered shape toward the through-hole 16. This is notalways necessary, but such will facilitate the insertion of the brushportion 18 into the through-hole 16.

The separating wall 17 may be designed as a separate body such as a plugor may be integrated with the cylindrical connecting member 25 or withthe cylindrical container 13. In the case where the separating wall 17is arranged as a separate body, the upper end should be closely fittedand engaged with the upper end of the main container 26.

It is preferable that the separating wall 17 is made of synthetic resinor an elastic material such as rubber, silicone or flexible plastics. Inparticular, it is preferable that the separating wall 17 is made of anelastic material because the brush portion 18 can be strongly andelastically pressed.

The dripping portion 11 is designed in form of a funnel, and a filter 22is arranged at the upper end. When the collected feces are suspended ina liquid 12 and filtrate is dripped from the lower end of a leg 23 ofthe dripping portion 11, a bore may be formed at the lower end of theleg 23 by ordinary procedure or a notch 28 may be provided at anadequate position on the leg 23 and the leg may be broken off at thenotch 28.

The filter 22 is arranged to filter insolubles in the solution, in whichfeces are suspended. The filter is normally arranged inside thecontainer, while it may be arranged outside so that; the insolubles inthe solution are filtered when the solution is used in occult bloodtest.

The device for sampling feces according to the present invention may becommercially marketed in the conditions as shown in FIG. 1. In thiscase, the collecting stick 15 may be designed in such manner that it isclosely fitted in the through-hole 16, thus playing a role of a plug.Or, the cap 14 provided with the collecting stick 15 may be arrangedseparately from the main container 13, and a plug may closely be fittedin the through-hole 16. In this case, it may be so designed that thebrush portion 18 is closely passed into the through-hole 16 and the plugmay be dropped into the solution.

To increase sealing property of the device for sampling feces of thepresent invention, an elastic material such as rubber, silicone orflexible plastics may be arranged at a contact portion between the cap14 and the main container 26. Or, the separating wall 17 may be made ofan elastic material mentioned above and may be engaged with the upperend of the main container 26 so that it plays a role of a packing.Alternatively, a packing for this purpose may be arranged at the contactportion.

In order to prevent suspending of excessive quantity of feces attachedon the brush portion 18 in the liquid 12, it is preferable that thecollecting stick 15 is closely and slidably fitted. To facilitatesliding of the stick, the separating wall 17 is preferably made of anelastic material mentioned above.

Next, description will be given on the procedure to use the device forsampling feces of the present invention with the above arrangement.

With the collecting stick 15 separated from the main container 26 asshown in FIG. 2, surface portions of feces are collected by rolling theouter portion of the brush portion 18 over the feces. In the cases ofsigmoid colon cancer or rectal cancer, occult blood caused by thesecancers is probably present in the surface portions of the feces.Therefore, by the above procedure, the feces containing blood can beeffectively sampled.

Next, the brush portion 18 is closely engaged in the through-hole 16 ofthe separating wall 17 of the main container 13. Under this condition,the hairs of the brush portion 18 are bent down and are closely fittedin the through-hole 16. The feces are elastically pressed and are stuckinto the brush portion evenly, while excessive quantity of feces arepushed upward and are moved toward the upper surface of the separatingwall 17.

When the brush portion 18 is immersed into the liquid 12, the hairs 20of the brush portion 18 rise up vigorously and strike the liquid 12 withstrong resilient force. Thus, it is possible to easily suspend the fecesattached on the brush portion 18 into the liquid 12.

In the collecting stick of the conventional type device as shown in FIG.5, feces may not be easily suspended in the liquid 12. In the presentinvention, the feces attached on the brush portion 18 can be easily andperfectly suspended in the liquid 12 if necessary by shaking becausefeces are present not as a big mass and, therefore, feces have a largecontact; surface area.

In this way, the feces suspended in the liquid 12 can be carried to thesite of examination. Once brought to the site of examination, filtrateof feces suspended solution can be dripped from the lower end of thedripping portion through the filter 22 by an ordinary procedure and areapplied to the examination.

The collecting stick 15 of the present invention may be stuck into thefeces, in place of rolling on the feces to collect samples as in thepast. Even in this case, to sample an approximately constant amount ofthe feces can be performed more effectively than in the conventionalprocedure.

As described above, it is possible according to the present invention toeffectively collect surface portions of the feces because a plurality ofhairs are arranged on the means for collecting feces. This makes itpossible to facilitate accurate examination of colon cancer. Becausefeces can be sampled more uniformly and effectively on said plurality ofbrush hairs than in conventional way of sampling in the grooves, thebetter quantitative sampling can be carried out, and the collected fecescan be easily and perfectly suspended in the liquid. This a facilitateseasy and simple examination for the diagnosis of colon cancer and canprovide such a remarkable effect as not found in the conventional devicefor sampling feces.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device for sampling feces, comprising a maincontainer for a liquid for suspending feces in it, a cap arranged on oneend of said main container, a separating means for dividing inner spacesof the main container and the cap, a through-hole having a diameter andformed in the separating means, and a collecting stick having alongitudinal axis and having a means for collecting feces engaged andinserted in the through hole, the means for collecting feces composed ofa plurality of hairs which are arranged at or near the forward end ofthe collecting stick and project outwardly such that free ends of theplurality of hairs, as a whole, form an external shape having adimension, when measured perpendicular to the axis of the stick, whichis greater than the diameter of the through-hole, and connecting thefree ends of said plurality of hair forms an approximately constantcircular or elliptical shape when the collecting stick in view incross-section relative to the longitudinal axis.
 2. A device forsampling feces according to claim 1, wherein said means for collectingfeces is designed in form of a brush or a brush shape.
 3. A device forsampling feces according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of hairs arearranged in directions perpendicular to or upward to or downward toaxial direction of said collecting stick.
 4. A device for sampling fecesaccording to claim 1, wherein said means for collecting feces forms awire member or a rod member, on which said plurality of hairs arearranged.
 5. A device for sampling feces according to claim 4, whereinsaid plurality of hairs are arranged evenly over the entire outerperiphery or distributed locally unevenly on said wire member or rodmember.
 6. A device for sampling feces according to claim 1, whereinsaid plurality of hairs are made of a synthetic resin.
 7. A device forsampling feces according to claim 1, wherein said collecting stick ismounted on said cap.
 8. A device for sampling feces according to claim1, wherein a dripping portion having a filter is provided on the otherend of said main container.
 9. A device for sampling feces according toclaim 1, wherein said collecting stick is closely and slidably engagedin said through-hole.
 10. A device for sampling feces according to claim1, wherein said separating means is a separating wall arranged on innerperipheral surface of the main container and is made of an elasticmaterial.
 11. A device for sampling feces according to claim 1, whereinsaid main container is designed in such manner that a cylindricalconnecting member having a separating means in it is closely engaged inan opening at the upper end of a cylindrical container having a drippingportion at the lower end.